Twist of Gold (10 page)

SEAMUS FINN
: I’ll not be delayin’ you much longer, we’ve come to the parting of our ways. Your way lies ahead and my way to the south,
to San Francisco.

ANNIE
: Please stay with us, at least till we find Father again.

SEAMUS FINN
: I’ve made up me mind. You’ll not be needin’ me any more now, will you? So I’ll be goin’ on my way – but
I’d like you to have somethin’ before I go.

    
He hands them the gold.

SEAN
: But that’s all your gold, Seamus!

SEAMUS FINN
: Not quite all, but almost, for sure. Why would I need it when I get back to Ireland?

SEAN
: To buy half of Kerry, like you said.

SEAMUS FINN
: I’m not so certain Kerry is for sale, and I’m gettin’ on. Old men grow no younger. You’re both still very young.
You could do with the gold more than me.

ANNIE
: But we have our golden torc.

SEAMUS FINN
: You surely have. And you must treasure it.

SEAN
: ’Tis your gold, Seamus. Didn’t you come to America to make your fortune? And didn’t we come to find our father? And
haven’t we all found our pot of gold?

SEAMUS FINN
: Sure, ’tis nothing. Give it to your father. As more people come, the cost of land and beasts will soon be a match for that gold.

ANNIE
: Thank you, Seamus.

SEAMUS FINN
: Consider it a parting gift to the prettiest girl in the world.

    
He wipes away a tear.

    Now I’ll be on my way before you unman me.

SEAN
: Goodbye, Seamus Finn.

ANNIE
: Goodbye.

SEAMUS FINN
:
(Leaving.)
Never look back, children, never look back.

    
And he’s gone. Silence. The sound of the sea.

ANNIE
: Let’s go home, Sean.

SEAN
: Yes, let’s go home.

    
And they run towards a house with a tall chimney –

ANNIE
: Look: a tall chimney. It must be Father’s!

SEAN
: Do you think Father’ll recognise us?

ANNIE
:
(Running.)
He’ll tell me I’ve grown, and he’ll pick me up and throw me into the air, catch me under the arms and swing
me high again –

    
– but they are suddenly stopped in their tracks. A newly dug grave: a crude wooden cross, crooked in the ground.

    Oh, Sean!

    
And they fall to their knees, wailing and keening.

    He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.

    
A
MAN
approaches, silhouetted against the setting sun.

MAN
: And what might you ragamuffins be wanting? ’Tis almost sundown. Is it a bed you’re after?

    
SEAN
and
ANNIE
are dumbfounded.

    Have you not got tongues in those heads of yours?

SEAN
: Do you not recognise us?

    
Pause.

ANNIE
: Do you not know who we are, Father?

    
And now the
MAN
is dumbfounded.

SEAN
: Father?

    
Pause.

MAN/FATHER
: Annie? Sean?

SEAN
: And is it really you?

    
They hug.

    You gave us a terrible fright. The grave.

FATHER
: Oh, for sure ’tis sad. ’Tis our old dog, Caitlin. She followed me back East and across the seas to Ireland to fetch you, and when
you weren’t there she followed me all the way back West to California again. Worn out with living – died only last week.

ANNIE
: We thought it was you, Father.

    
And the three of them hug some more.

WOMAN’S VOICE
:
(Off.)
Patrick O’Brien! Are you comin’ with that wood for the oven or aren’t you? Do I fetch it
myself?

FATHER
: I’m comin’ – and bringin’ you something better than wood.

    
The
WOMAN – MOTHER
steps into the setting sunlight, silhouetted.

MOTHER
: Annie? Sean?

    
They are dumbfounded again.

    Is it you?

SEAN
+
ANNIE
: Mother?!

MOTHER
: Am I dreamin’?

SEAN
: Not unless we are – and we’re not dreamin’, are we Annie?

ANNIE
: I don’t know, Sean. If it is dreamin’, then don’t wake me up.

    
And they all hug.

MOTHER
: It is a miracle! I thought you were dead.

SEAN
: And we thought you’d died too.

MOTHER
: A fine bunch of maudlin O’Briens we are.

FATHER
: I missed you by moments. I docked as your ship set sail for ’Merica. Your Mother was dying but waiting for me, and she told me about the
English soldier and how he saved you, and when she got better, we followed you as soon as we could – but we got back here and never spied you on the way. We’d given you both up for
dead.

ANNIE
: Dead? When we had the torc to protect us?

FATHER
: You still have the torc?

ANNIE
: It’s worked terrible hard to get us here.

    
She reveals the golden torc in all its glory.

MOTHER
: And you too, my children, you must have worked terrible hard too.

SEAN
: Oh, we had others to help us.

ANNIE
: Yes: Fiddler Donnelly and Mr Blundell –

SEAN
: – and Miss Henry and Miss Martha, and Little Luke –

ANNIE
: – and the Colonel and –

SEAN
: – Seamus Finn…

FATHER
: And who might they all be?

MOTHER
: And where did you come by that old fiddle case, Sean?

FATHER
: And when did you two grow up so?

MOTHER
: And have you been washing your neck, Sean O’Brien?

SEAN
: Mother!

MOTHER
: Tell us all.

    
Pause.

SEAN
: Well, ’tis a long story, Mother. A long, long story.

    
And he takes out the fiddle and plays the heartiest reel and
ANNIE
dances, and
MOTHER
and
FATHER
too, and they all live happily ever after…

    
The End.